Barrel



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICEo GEORGE IV. BIGLEY, OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA.

BARREL, arc.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 589,494, dated September '7, 1897'.

Application filed August 177, 1896. Serial No. 603,025. (No model.) i

To all whom it may concer/t:

Be it known that I, GEORGE W. BIGLEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Minneapolis, in the county of Hennepin and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Barrels, &c.; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to a new article of manufacture especially adapted for use in making skeleton barrels, baskets, &c.

From a broad point of view the article of manufacture consists of a series of slats or equivalent devices which are united or woven together by means of a pair of parallel wires which run transversely, one on each side of the said slats, and by a third wire which is wound around the pair of parallel wires between the said slats. This article of manufacture is adapted for many purposes such, for instance, as for for making barrels, baskets, crates, mats, fences, ttc.. However, this novel article of manufacture, when combined with other novel features of construction, hereinafter set forth, is especially adapted for use in making skeleton vessels-such,for example, as `apple-barrels and fruit baskets and crates-which `are necessarily formed with openings for the free circulation of air.

In the accompanying drawings a barrel constructed in accordance with the principles of my invention, the same being made up of one form of my new article of manufacture, is illustrated, wherein, like letters referring' to like parts throughout the several views- Figure l is a view in side elevation, showing a barrel made up of mynovel article of manufacture and involving also a novel feature of knockdown construction. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the body of the barrel shown in Fig. l, the same being knocked down and spread out fiat. Fig. 3 is a detail view in perspective, some parts being broken away, showing a portion of the slat-and-wire work of the body shown in Fig. 2.

The barrel shown in the drawings is made up of suitable heads, (not shown,) the series of staves or slats a spaced apart and bound together at their middle portions by a pair of parallel wires b and by the binding or wrapping 'wire Z1 and the ordinary hoops a'. The staves or slats a are of course provided at their ends with the ordinary chime and groove a2.

The parallel wires b are preferably of hardened spring-steel, and the wrapping-wire b' should be of softer and more pliable metal. This wrapping-wire b is given a greater or less number of coils around the parallel wires b between the slats o, according to the distance or spacing desired between said slats or staves, and the said wire b' is then drawn over the side of this slat to the space between the next adjacent slats, where the act of winding is again repeated.

To give the knockown feature of the construction to the barrel, the ends of the flexible body formed by the slats and wirework are detachably united. As shown, this is accomplished as follows: One pair of adjacent ends of the parallel wires b are formed with inturned ends b2, which are embedded in one of the slats a. On each side of this particular slat a, just over the ends b2 of the .wires b, is a keeper-plate b3, provided with a transverse seat b4. These keeperplates h3 serve to hold the ends b2 of the wires b in engagement with the slat o. The pair of opposite ends ofthe wire b project outward beyond the last slat a, and when the flexible body is rolled up into the form of a barrel are adapted to engage one into the seat b4 of each of the keeper-plates b3, as best shown in Fig. 3. The hoops a' of the barrel being then driven to place the barrel is completed.

A barrel thus constructed will have great strength and will be particularly strong in its resistance to a crushing strain. This is due partly to the fact that the parallel Wires b are formed of spring-steel, but is due principally to the truss-like construction formed by the said parallel wires and the wrapping-wire Z2. Preferably the inside member of the Wires l? should bc a little larger than the outside member.

Vhat I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is as follows:

l. A new article of manufacture consisting of a series of slats, united by a pair of parallel wires running transversely of the series,

one on each side of said slats, and tied to- IOO getherby a continuous third Wire Wound around said parallel wires between said slats, substantially as described.

2. As a new article of manufacture, a skeleton Vessel formed of a series of slats united by a pair of parallel Wires running transversely thereof, one on each side of said slats, and tied together by a continuous third wire Wound around said parallel wires between said slats, substantially as described.

3. A knockdown barrel, the body of which is made up of a series of staves spaced apart and united at their central portions by means of a pair of parallel Wires running transversely thereof, one on each side of said stares, and tied together by a continuous third lVitnesses:

JAS. F. WILLIAMsoN, F. D. MERCHANT. 

